Poor quality sleep has become all too common in our stressed-out, super-busy, hyper-caffeinated, modern world. Among the numerous responsibilities we juggle daily, quality sleep often takes the back burner, and those repercussions show up in our health and around our waistline. The right amount of sleep is important and there are health consequences that come with too much or too little. For example:
- Inadequate sleep can quickly sabotage your efforts at getting healthy and losing weight. Sleep is a major cornerstone for an energetic, joyful, healthy life. Not getting enough sleep or getting poor-quality sleep adversely affects hormones that make you hungry and store fat. Many studies have shown the impacts of inadequate and poor sleep, linking it to cardiovascular disease, mood disorders, insulin resistance, poor immune function, and lower life expectancy.
- On the flip side, getting too much sleep (considered in this study to be more than 8 hours) has been linked to an increased risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke. So it seems finding the sweet spot of just the right amount of sleep is imperative for our health.
I want to share my top 7 tips for good sleep quality that I’ve personally found helpful for getting a great night’s rest:
- Get on a regular schedule and include natural sunlight as part of your daily routine. Going to sleep and waking at the same time each day creates a rhythm for your body.
Try to only use your bed for sleep or romance, instead of working on the computer or watching television.
Aim for at least 20 minutes of sunshine every day, preferably in the morning, which triggers your brain to release chemicals that regulate sleep cycles. - Limit electronics in the evening and do not keep a television in your bedroom. Studies show the artificial, bright light can disrupt brain activity and alter sleep hormones like melatonin. Your bedroom should be a quiet, peaceful haven. Avoid computers, smartphones, tablets, and television for one or two hours before bed. You might also try using blue light blocking glasses; while blue light is present in natural sunlight, we’re now exposed to it at all hours of the day from our electronic devices with screens. Using blue light blocking glasses can help us maintain more balanced circadian rhythms, especially if you use screens after dark since blue light suppresses melatonin production.
- Avoid caffeine several hours before bed. Both caffeine and alcohol (see next point) will prevent you achieving deep sleep that is needed to feel refreshed in the morning.
The half-life of caffeine (time taken for the body to eliminate one-half of the caffeine) varies widely between people, depending on factors such as age, body weight, pregnancy status, medication intake and liver health. In healthy adults, the half-life is approximately 5 to 6 hours. Of note, the quarter life of caffeine is 12 hours, which means that a quarter of the caffeine you consumed at 12 noon will still be in your system at midnight, or it is like consuming a quarter of an espresso when you go to bed then trying to sleep. - Do not use alcohol in the evening, especially if you need to perform your best the next day, i.e. on a work night.
Though alcohol induces sleep, it does so by altering circadian rhythm leading to disruptions in a person’s sleep homeostasis – the brain’s built-in mechanism that regulates your sleepiness and wakefulness. Sleep homeostasis is how the body balances a person’s need for sleep according to how long they have been awake.
To do this, it uses adenosine, a chemical produced naturally in cells. The level of adenosine outside of cells goes up during prolonged periods of wakefulness and goes down again during sleep. When the extracellular adenosine level goes up, it blocks the wake-promoting cells in the basal forebrain. When it goes down again, the block is lifted, and the wake-promoting cells become active.
Thus, if a person goes to sleep earlier than usual, the resulting shift in sleep homeostasis may cause them to wake up in the middle of the night or very early in the morning.
Of course, booze is bad for the brain, too. In his book ‘Why We Sleep‘, University of California, Berkeley, professor Matthew Walker explains that even moderate drinking causes memory impairment. He cites a Sleep study that found that participants who consumed alcohol on the same day they performed a learning exercise forgot about 50% of what they’d learned afterward. Even those who had two nights of high-quality sleep between the exercise and their bout of drinking forgot roughly 40% of the information. Walker hypothesises that alcohol interferes with the process of omitting items from short-term to long-term memory, which usually takes place while we’re asleep. - Clear your mind. Everyone knows that having too much on your mind can hinder sleep. But turning your mind off can become a challenge. Keep a journal or notebook by your bed and write down your to-do list or ruminations before you go to sleep so you can close your eyes and make it less likely for your mind to spin.
- Perform light stretching or yoga before bed. This relaxes your mind and body. Research shows daily yoga can improve sleep significantly. I personally love including meditation (which can be done at any time of the day) as part of my stress management and sleep supporting routine.
- Use herbal therapies. I recommend 300 to 600 milligrams of passionflower or 320 to 480 milligrams of valerian root extract before bed. Other natural sleep supplements include melatonin or magnesium.
Nature’s Sunshine’s Hops & Valerian with Passionflower is a unique combination of natural ingredients which provide a natural source of selenium, zinc, niacin and vitamin C, each of which provides benefits for the nervous system.
Sleep is usually the first thing we compromise when life gets busy. Shifting that mindset and realising your sleep schedule is just as important as everything else on your calendar will have immense payoffs for your physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
Go get them Zzz,
Scott
PS: If you enjoyed this post and/or think some one you know may benefit from reading it, please Share via the SoMe widgets around the page. Thanks in advance.
Much of the advice and text from this post came from an email sent by Dr Mark Hyman.
